Storage facility tenants assess losses from fire last month

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, April 15, 2004

Three and a half weeks after fire ripped through a League City storage facility, customers are coming to grips with the reality of losing many of their belongings.

Jim Guthormsen, 54, an inspector for an engineering and construction firm, and his wife, Nancy Stone, had stored the majority of their clothes on hangers and other items in plastic tubs at Uncle Bob's Self Storage, 2280 E. Main St. The couple lives on a sailboat in Clear Lake Shores.

On March 20, one of five storage units at the business was destroyed by a fire. Guthormsen said he lost "80 percent to 90 percent" of his belongings that were in storage.

His clothing suffered smoke damage, and the heat melted scuba gear and a computer.

"We were able to get into one of the tubs that had all the pictures that we had saved, and they were in pretty good shape. Those you can't put a price on -- they're not worth a penny to anyone else, but they're irreplaceable to the person whose pictures they are," he said.

He said he did not have insurance on the items.

"Now it's just a matter of going out and purchasing items that we need at the time we need them," he said.

League City Fire Marshal Wanda Martin said the fire apparently started accidentally by a customer who was mixing chemicals at the storage facility. The facility, she said, did not have a sprinkler system -- which is not required for storage facilities.

Employees of Uncle Bob's referred comment to officials at the company's corporate headquarters in Buffalo, N.Y. Diane Piegza, vice president of communications, said the League City facility is part of a nationwide 263-facility storage company located in 21 states.

Retired attorney Albert Minter, 57, said he lost family photographs, Russian jewelry, paintings and family antiques.

"My wife Carolyn had a heart attack a few years ago, and as a result has some brain damage which caused some memory loss," he said. "Those photographs really are sort of her memories -- without the photographs, she's lost a good part of her connection with her children's past."

Minter said he and his wife were in the process of buying a home and only planned to have their belongings in storage temporarily.

"It might be a good reminder to people not to put things that have that kind of special interest in someone else's care," Minter said.

Anniece Larkins, 63, owner of JD's Interiors in League City, said her 87-year-old mother, Gwen Surber, was moving to the Clear Lake area from Sweeny. Surber's belongings were being stored at Uncle Bob's and were destroyed in the fire.

The day (the fire) happened, I didn't know how to tell her. When I told her, she cried and then laughed and said, `At least we don't have to move it now.' "

Surber lost furniture and antiques, including a 150-year-old dining room table and six chairs that she had stitched in needlepoint. Larkins was able to recover three crystal chandeliers and a set of porcelain china.

After salvaging the items, Larkins said she encouraged others who had given up to sort through the debris. She also complimented the local manager and staff of Uncle Bob's.

"They have been out of this world," she said. "The crew is bending over backwards to help us. I was there three days, and they brought drinks to us and hooked up lights so we could see."

Although Larkins cried the day of the fire, she said she was able to find something positive in the aftermath.

"We've all become kind of a family because we've all experienced the same thing," she said. "It's really been good that way because we have met people and encouraged each other. We're mad, but we just have to get on with it."